Kingdom Hearts: The Game
by Angelique Dominee
Summary: What do you do when the game you love most becomes your prison?
1. What the Hell?

My name is Liv Lindstrom, and, yes, Liv is short for Olivia. My full name happens to be Olivia Rose, but my friends - and sometimes my mom - just call me Liv. I guess it makes them think of Liv Tyler or something. Anyway, I graduated high school in 2008 and I spent an entire year in college before I realized it wasn't a big enough of a challenge for me.

I always need a challenge and, to me, there's nothing challenging about opening a textbook, listening to an hour-long lecture, and doing five pages of homework due two days later. Challenging would be something like fifteen to twenty pages of homework due the next morning along with a science experiment and a in-depth report on one of any element on the periodic table. Can you tell I had trouble in high school slowing down to the other students work speed?

Which is exactly why I had hoped college would be much, much more challenging . . . and was proven wrong yet again. I returned to my hometown, Corry, Pa, at the end of the year and, after much consideration, told my family I was done with college. My mother was furious and told me to get out. She had only said it because she was mad, but I knew if I stayed, I'd hear about how I had so much potential that would get wasted in such a small town as Corry.

I left and moved in with my two aunts, Shelly and Tara, until I could afford a place of my own. I was talking with a Navy recruiter one day because I play pool at a nearby bar, Shakers, and he asked if I had ever taken the ASVAB. I made a shot that sent three of my balls each into a corner pocket and told him I took it back in eleventh grade. As I made another shot, he asked what my score had been. With a final shot sending the eight ball into the side pocket, I said, "I believe my score was a 96."

I never expected to see a Navy man gawk at me the way he did when I told him my score. He asked me if I had ever considered joining the military. Of course, my reply was I thought about it, but I needed a challenge to get through it or things would be too dull and uninteresting. He told me if things weren't challenging enough for me in the Navy, they'd take it up a notch. He asked if I was interested. I said, "I'm as interested as a fat kid is interested in chocolate cake."

So, for the past six months, I've been training for boot camp, or basic training. I had to lose some weight, though my aunts believe my weight's just fine. When you weigh 210 pounds and the maximum weight for your height is 175 pounds, your weight isn't 'just fine'. It's apparently a little over.

Anyway, this story isn't about my getting ready for the military. It's about how my two favorite obsessions - challenges and video games - got me into something that would change my entire outlook on life. You see, I'm a complete video game nerd and wouldn't mind spending hours and hours playing on my aunt's Play Station 2 or Nintendo 64. Older systems, I know, but still great.

It was during my stay with my aunts when I started playing Kingdom Hearts, an interesting role-play game which included several different Disney characters plus a few characters from Final Fantasy. I play quite frequently, but no matter how hard I try, I've never been too good at defeating Ansem in any of the three games. Well, one day I was home alone, so I popped in the disc for the original Kingdom Hearts and pushed in the Memory Card.

As the PS2 was loading, a giant rumbling sound erupted through the neighborhood and I could swear we were in the middle of an earthquake. I looked outside and a giant crack was tearing through the street and was headed toward the house. I jumped up, but not in time before the crack began separating the apartment building. I leapt across the schism, ran down the stairs, and ran out into the street.

I turned and watched in horror as the apartment building collapsed in on itself before falling into the giant canyon. I prayed that the tenants of the lower apartment had not been in there. Then my horror increased as I watched the Little Caesar's behind the apartment crumble into the crack. I was frozen in place. My mom was supposed to be working that day! I started running toward the building to see if anyone had survived.

Suddenly, a guy with long white hair and topaz-colored eyes appeared in my way, a sword in his hand. He held his sword tight, preparing to attack me. I was abotu to run when a sword almost identical to the Keyblade magically appeared in my hand. "This is too wierd and impossible," I think to myself, but hold the sword and get ready to defend myself against this Ansem look-alike.

'Ansem' attacked, and I managed to bring the sword up to block his attack, but the force of his blow was so powerful it knocked me backwards and into the schism.

More?


	2. What's Going On?

I landed with a very large thud on a floor painted to look like a stained glass window and tumbled to the side. I leapt to my feet and held out my sword, prepared to attack if necessary. I didn't see nor hear anyone, so I decided to take a better look at the painting. It was of seven Disney women, the seven princesses of Kingdom Hearts, and a shadowed out individual in the center. I was trying to make out who the person was when a cold rod was pressed against my neck. "Don't move, lady. Keep your hands out where we can see them."

I did what I was told and as the man kept the rod at my throat another man checked my pockets and knocked the key blade out of my hand. "She's clean." The rod moved and I backed up, observing the two men. "You two look . . . familiar . . . "

"Yes, we probably do," said the first man. He was dressed extravagantly, wearing a black turtleneck long-sleeve shirt, black silken pants and a black flame-embroidered dress-robe. Black gloves adorned his hands and black boots covered in rubies covered his feet. His bright blond hair was teased and his gray-blue eyes shone mischievously, which matched his lips - always turned up into a sly grin. "We are from different dimensions, but you would best recognize us from literature, television, or fan fiction itself. I'm Adrian . . . and that is Nigel."

I turned to Nigel, who was eyeing me like a piece of meat, then back to Adrian. "Wait a minute . . . you're Adrian from Little Nicky . . . and he's Nigel, from the Replacements?"

"Sort of. I'm actually from a fan fiction story. Have you ever read the Animatown trilogy?" When I nodded slightly, he added, "That's my . . . dimension. In that dimension, I'm from Movie Metropolis. Nigel here is actually from the dimension you saw in his movie."

I looked back to Nigel, actually studying him now. His bright blond hair was slightly matted to his forehead, and his gray-blue eyes seemed as mischievous as Adrian's. He was dressed in a white t-shirt and shorts with a pair of gray tennis shoes. I looked back and forth between the two men. "This is too weird!" I started to walk away then realized there was no way out. We were basically blocked in.

"Why are we here?" I asked, turning back to my 'cell mates'. "How did you two get here?"

"Probably the same way you did, babes," Nigel spoke again finally, walking a little closer to me. "Our worlds were falling apart and crevices were popping up everywhere. Suddenly, this guy with white hair and topaz eyes comes at me and this shield pops into my hand. I blocked his attack, but I fell into the hole in the ground. I landed here . . . Adrian came along shortly thereafter."

"Same thing happened to me, only this magic wand appeared in my hand." Adrian showed off what appeared to be Donald's scepter. "I have no idea where I am or if Leigh is alright . . . anything!"

"I know my teammate, Shane Falco, disappeared into the crevice before I did. I hope he's alright; I owe him everything." He turned away, sadness replacing his flirtatious attitude.

"My mom was working at the restaurant behind my house when it fell into the hole." I felt tears finally running down my face at the thought of losing my mother. "We may just have to work together to get out of this."

"It's the only way you three will get out of this realm alive."

Before anyone could ask who had spoken, the floor shattered beneath our feet and we plummeted.

We were almost on the ground when a force grabbed us and lightly placed us on another plate glass floor. I had my sword at the ready, Adrian was ready to cast a spell, and Nigel was hiding behind his shield. "What's going on?" I called out to the voice. "Why did you bring us all here?"

"You three are just few of many from many worlds and dimensions brought into the realm of Kingdom Hearts," the voice replied. "There are ten individuals who were brought into this realm; Olivia Lindstrom, Adrian, Nigel Gruff, Vladis Grutas, Febre, General Thade, Penguin, Steelbeak, Xenophilius Lovegood, and Robert Reston. Each of those individuals will decide of their own free will whether they will travel down the road to either darkness or light. You three, however, are unique. You three will decide the fate of all the dimensions and universes in existence."

"How are we supposed to do that?" ask Nigel.

The voice said, "Each of you have been given a weapon which shall be your strength against the evil forces working against you. It will also help you strengthen your weaknesses and improve your strengths. Remember, you must work together as a team, or you will fail. All life in existence is counting on you." The voice faded away, leaving the three of us wondering what would happen next.

Suddenly, an enormous Heartless reached out and knocked the three of us off of our feet. I was immediately back up on my feet, the keyblade surging with energy in my hands. The other two were a little slower with their reflexes, but were ready to take this thing on. We rushed forward. Adrian and Nigel started attacking its arms while I immediately started bashing its head. It slithered around while our attacks hit before it knocked the platform sideways, so all of us were falling off and landing on the platform below us.

I manged to land on top of the Heartless, which had landed on the platform unconscious. Adrian 'floated' to the floor while Nigel managed to land on his rear. I kept hitting the Heartless with my blade as the other two joined in. Finally, after what seemed like forever, the Heartless vanished.

"Okay," said Nigel slowly. "What's next?"

Suddenly, the world we were in vanished in front of our eyes and was replaced with a town that seemed familiar somehow. I looked around and as I observed people and storefronts, I realized where we were.

We were in Traverse Town. Kingdom Hearts had officially began . . . and so had our journey.


End file.
